AFGE Local 1603 and Marine Corps Exchange, Henderson Hall (Authority decision, August 12, 1983)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority resolved the negotiability petition described below. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a), a person aggrieved by a final Authority order may generally seek judicial review within 60 days of issuance. A review petition does not itself stay the order.

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 1603 proposed that employees affected by a reduction in force could revert to positions they had held previously and certain intervening positions. The Authority found the proposal materially identical to one it had already held outside the duty to bargain. It held that mandatory reversion rights would interfere with management’s right to assign employees. It dismissed the petition on the merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a)(2)(A).
• Outcome: Proposal held nonnegotiable; petition dismissed.
• Key point: Mandatory reversion rights would restrict management’s assignment of employees.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v12 p543 ]

12:0543(103)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

12 FLRA No. 103

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
LOCAL 1603
Union

and

MARINE CORPS EXCHANGE,
HENDERSON HALL,
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Agency

Case No. O-NG-606

DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE

The petition for review in this case comes before the Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and presents issues relating to the negotiability of the following Union Proposal: /1/

Section 3. The reversion rights of employees affected by reduction-in-force shall be governed by applicable regulations and directives, except that, an employee in group I will, when reached by a reduction-in-force action, have reversion rights to all positions previously held within the unit, in descending order by rate of pay; and to all intervening positions for which the affected employee is qualified.

Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determinations. This proposal is materially identical to a proposal which the Authority found to be outside the duty to bargain in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 1603 and Navy Exchange, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, 9 FLRA No. 147 (1982) based upon its reasoning in National Association of Government Employees, Local R7-23 and Department of the Air Force, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, 3 FLRA 185 (1980). The proposal herein, like that considered in Patuxent River, would obligate the Agency to provide an employee affected by a reduction-in-force reversion rights to various positions in the unit on the basis of seniority. Thus, for the reasons relied upon in Patuxent River, the Authority finds that the proposal herein violates management's right to "assign" employees under section 7106(a)(2)(A) of the Statute, and thus is outside the duty to bargain.

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Union's petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed. Issued, Washington, D.C., August 12, 1983 Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman Ronald W. Haughton, Member Henry B. Frazier III, Member FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------

/1/ The Union's petition included a second proposal; however, the Agency subsequently withdrew its allegation of nonnegotiability with respect to that proposal.